1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention described herein pertain to the field of computer systems. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, one or more embodiments of the invention enable methods for conditionally branching a validation in a computer system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known methods for creating expressions for manipulating data in a computer system require complex and error prone expression entry. Wizards exist that help a user construct an expression, however the user must still have extensive programming knowledge in order to effectively create a expression. The user must for example still understand the rules and syntax for creating a properly formed expression. Wizards help to create properly formed expressions, however known wizards are primarily concerned with aiding a user in the formatting nuances associated with complex expressions. Wizards do not allow for expressions to be used as validations with conditional branches and associated programs do not have the ability to be perform the expressions manually or automatically over selected records. Furthermore, associated programs do not show the success or failure of the expression in association with the records themselves. In addition, known expression creation tools do not allow for expressions to be grouped, do not allow for expressions to be called from workflows and do not allow for searches to be conducted or combined with other searches to find records that match the expression.
One approach for defining different validations to conditionally apply to a record is to define a different validation for each value in the records that a branch is desired on and then manually call each validation based on that value. This approach requires that separate validations must be performed one at a time. For at least the limitations described above there is a need for a method for conditionally branching a validation.